Ariel Loses its Mind With 1,180-Horsepower Turbine-Powered Hipercar

Ariel already is certifiably insane with its super-light Atom and Nomad vehicles, but this time, the UK-based automaker is off its rocker.

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Ariel’s lightweight cars with small-displacement engines are amazing, but what happens when it flips the brand’s ethos on its ear and releases something crazy, like a turbine-powered rig with 1,180 horsepower at its disposal? Well, it gets a lot of attention.

Meet the destined-for-production Ariel Hipercar.

The Hipercar is part of Ariel’s attempt to reduce carbon while still delivering amazing performance. And this concept should have no problem pulling that off. The Hiprercar will ditch the traditional piston engine in favor of four 295-horsepower inboard electric motors fueled by a 42- or 56-kWh battery pack. Once these packs run out of juice, a 47-horsepower micro-turbine range extender kicks in. That’s right… a turbine.

This puts the total output at an incredible 1,180 horsepower and 1,330 pound-feet of torque. It will come in either all-wheel drive or two-wheel drive, but there is no mention of whether the two-wheel-drive version loses any power.

This instantly available power launches the Hipercar to 60 mph in just 2.4 seconds and up to a 160-mph top speed.

The exterior design is not official, as Ariel plans to continue to tweak its full-body design between now and its anticipated 2019 unveiling and 2020 on-sale date, but this preview shows Ariel is also changing up its design trend with this upcoming model.